Facebook comments:
Aaron Bachstein: Yup. And now I sit here in agonizing pain because people wouldn’t take their medications as directed or knew when to talk to their doctor. I just got off the phone with the Medical Director at my local VA Clinic and was told that they will “look into alternate methods but we cannot help you otherwise.”
Jacqueline Conley: VA is hurting the veterans who really need them, my husband got cut down to 60 a month and it’s so funny that out source surgeons say he need operation but not VA, years of passing him doctor to doctor and VA to VA we been to them all!!! So I wonder if the people who decided to cuts medicine for those who really need it, if they have time to come do my yard work and change my oil????
I am a Veteran of the Vietnam War Era.
I go to Roudebush VA Hospital for all of my medical care.
My vertebrae between my belt and my tailbone are collapsed, causing a lot of pain.
My Primary Care Physician prescribed 6 Hydrocodone 5 per day. My back still hurt.
I begged to go to the Pain Clinic, which I had heard was so wonderful. It literally took months to get referred there.
So what was my total experience at the Pain Clinic?
Pharmacist Kelly Henderson reduced my prescription for Hydrocodone from 6 pills a day down to 2 pills a day!
My pain is much worse now. I can’t hardly do anything. I have to walk with a cane to help my back pain.
There are those who abuse Hydrocodone, and there are those that need it.
I wish I had never gone to the Pain Clinic. It has ruined my life.
A private Doctor screwed up a surgery on my wife’s neck, causing her to be in the Hospital for 9 Months and 20 days with a tracheostomy and a feeding tube. She can’t swallow, she can’t breathe, she is on a Rollator walker at home and a transport chair away from home. I have to do everything for her, which causes even more pain in my back.
I never got high or addicted to Hydrocodone. I need more than 2 a day to manage my pain. The lack of it is going to cause the pain to kill me, no matter what your expose was communicated to the Public via Channel 13.
So you tell me how to solve my problem. Maybe the answer is in a dumpster somewhere.
Sincerely,
1Lt H Terry Sanders, US Army
901 Solomon Drive
Franklin, IN 46131-2581
Home: 317-736-9234
Cell: 317-696-2235
Email: terry12633@comcast.net
The pain patient who committed suicide (mentioned in the linked article) died in 2012, and when I did a google search for her name, I didn’t find that her death had ever been reported. It seems that this article from September, 2014 is the first mention of her 2012 tragic death.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/prescription-painkiller-crackdown-has-gone-way-too-far-some-doctors-believe/2195678#comments
I’m going to begin posting any mentions of pain patients who were driven to suicide at my blog. I would really appreciate it if others would help me in this effort and let me know where to find any more articles to post.
https://painkills2.wordpress.com/category/suicide/